Podcast: Seeing the Words of Poets: Muḥammad Bennīs and the Visual in Moroccan Poetry

Abstract:  Frustrated by the fragmented scene of modern Morocco poetry, Moroccan poet and critic Muḥammad Bennīs pens the Bayān al-Kitāba in 1981 (“Manifesto of Writing”). The manifesto, which was published in Al-Thaqafa al-Jadida, a journal Bennīs co-founded in 1974, set forth a new concept of writing steeped in Morocco’s visual culture. Throughout the Bayān, Bennīs … Read more Podcast: Seeing the Words of Poets: Muḥammad Bennīs and the Visual in Moroccan Poetry


Narrative Subversions: “Unnatural” Narration and an Ethics of Engagement in the Work of Mahi Binebin

Dr. Calhoun Doyl

Abstract This podcast presents work related to my first book project, The Suicide Archive: Reading Resistance in the Wake of French Empire—which concludes with a chapter on suicide bombing, focused on Moroccan writer and artist Mahi Binebine’s (b. 1959) novel Les Étoiles de Sidi Moumen (2010)—and a second book project, Narrative Subversions: Strange Voices in … Read more Narrative Subversions: “Unnatural” Narration and an Ethics of Engagement in the Work of Mahi Binebin


A History of Franco-Muslim Education in Morocco and in Northwest Africa

Biography: Dr. Samuel Anderson is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He received a PhD in African History from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2018. His research focuses on education, race, and religion in northwest African Muslim societies under colonial rule. His current project examines the … Read more A History of Franco-Muslim Education in Morocco and in Northwest Africa


Podcast: The “Lush Garden” of Andalusian Music by Dr. Carl Davila

Biography Dr. Carl Davila holds a PhD in Arabic Studies from Yale University (2006). He lived in Fez off and on for nearly three years in the early 2000s and has visited Morocco frequently since then. Being the first scholar to write extensively in English on the Andalusian music in Morocco, he has published two … Read more Podcast: The “Lush Garden” of Andalusian Music by Dr. Carl Davila


Podcast: Modern Art and Architecture in Morocco in the Aftershock of the 1960 Agadir Earthquake by Riad Kherdeen

Photograph of the Agadir central post office, designed by Jean-François Zevaco in 1963. The photo comes from Thierry Nadau’s chapter in Architecture française d’outer-mer.

Biography Riad Kherdeen studies global modern art and architecture, with a focus on the region of West Asia/Middle East and North Africa (MENA). He is working on a doctoral dissertation project on modernist art and architecture in Morocco related to the Agadir earthquake of 1960 titled “Spectral Modernisms: Decolonial Aesthetics and Haunting in the Aftershock … Read more Podcast: Modern Art and Architecture in Morocco in the Aftershock of the 1960 Agadir Earthquake by Riad Kherdeen


Podcast: Roots and Traces of Contemporary Cultural Life in Tangier

By: George Bajalia and Aida Alami In this discussion at Youmein 2021: Roots and Traces, anthropologist George Bajalia and journalist Aida Alami explore the roots and traces of contemporary cultural life in Tangier, especially as they relate to northern Morocco’s border regions.  From questions of diversity and difference to the roots of present debates around … Read more Podcast: Roots and Traces of Contemporary Cultural Life in Tangier


Podcast: Ibn Rushd, Ecotheology, and Morocco’s Environmental Policy by Austin Bodetti

Ecotheology, a new academic discipline and social movement, focuses on the relationship between nature and religion. In a number of Muslim-majority countries, proponents of ecotheology have argued that the Quran, the Hadith, and other religious texts impose a unique obligation on humans: because God placed humans in charge of the environment, they must care for … Read more Podcast: Ibn Rushd, Ecotheology, and Morocco’s Environmental Policy by Austin Bodetti


Women’s History Month: TALIM’s Literacy Participants Visit a Unique Art Exhibit الشهر العالمي للمرأة: نساء برنامج محو الأمية بالمفوضية الأمريكية يزرن معرضا فنيا فريدا

Today, Tangier Medina women beneficiaries of the ​Arabic and Economic ​literacy program of TALIM paid a visit to Mahal Art Space‘s current exhibit: “Tangier: Facets of a Mediterranean Intersection.” This unusual exhibit offers visitors tools and materials to reorganize the photographs according to their taste and conception​,​ “that leads them” says Nouha Ben Yebdri, director of Mahal Art Space, “to unconsciously reach a … Read more Women’s History Month: TALIM’s Literacy Participants Visit a Unique Art Exhibit الشهر العالمي للمرأة: نساء برنامج محو الأمية بالمفوضية الأمريكية يزرن معرضا فنيا فريدا


Centering the Peripheries: Haratin and Southern Moroccans as Nationalists in Casablanca

In this talk, Moyagaye Bedward of Rutgers University examines Moroccan nationalism from a subaltern perspective. In contrast to previous historiography, nationalism in northern, urban sites such as Casablanca was also supported by southern Moroccans influenced by their pre-colonial experiences. Moyagaye discusses ordinary Moroccans, and in particular the Haratin, within the decolonization process, and demonstrate the … Read more Centering the Peripheries: Haratin and Southern Moroccans as Nationalists in Casablanca